I don’t know where to start here. So many thoughts and emotions are going through my head, and I’m looking for the right way to start. I had never heard of Felix Hess before Frans told me he worked on a project restoring old recordings from someone. Those recordings were released as five releases (4 tapes and one vinyl) released between 1982 and 1991 by Felix Hess, entitled ‘Frogs’ 1 to 5. All those releases contain sounds of, yes, frogs (with maybe a toad impersonating a frog here and there). Don’t stop reading; give this a chance because you will not be disappointed here.
Those five releases contained field recordings from frogs from all over the world. Felix was intrigued by the sounds and the way of communication that was audible in the recordings. So, not only the sound but also the coherence of sounds. And with that, the difference between both ‘form’ and ‘function’ of the sounds frogs made. Imagine a man with a recorder recording frogs for almost all his life because, yes, with everything he released, there was only one recording unrelated to frogs. So it’s safe to say that Felix dedicated his life as an artist to these creatures, and the choice of 6 tracks totalling 45 minutes out of those five early releases reflects the reason why.
The complexity of sounds and the almost rhythm that develops in the chaos is exactly why I love listening to experimental music and harsh noise. I listen to turmoil and try to find the Lorentz attractors as I like calling them. The hidden LFO or modulation pattern gives the listener a bit of graspable coherence, layers of sounds added to the mix with their minimal or maximal impact in the sound panorama. And here, it’s all done by frogs in nature, as captured by Felix Hess in Mexico, Australia and Japan.
With his lifelong journey/research – sadly Felix passed away in 2022, aged 81 – he not only listened to frogs but, based on what I wrote earlier, he created devices which he named ‘sound-critters’. Here starts a whole different chapter on Felix’s life, being a physicist and how he incorporated his artistic views and knowledge into his field of work. There are a few good links online, and you’re invited to Google for Felix Hess’s Lecture because YouTube is your friend here.
Many thanks to Johnny van de Koolwijk (a.k.a. Zyrtax) from Dead Mind Records for releasing this album and everyone involved in creating it. And no, don’t look at this release being a testament or obituary; it’s a piece of art that travels beyond time. Because long after mankind is extinct, frogs will probably still roam the earth.
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